Grocery shopping...trials and tribulations.

Today is Friday, the day I will go to the grocery store. I haven't been grocery shopping all week long. Believe me withdrawal is hard! We live in a small town and to grocery shop we have only have two choices... yes, there are still things that give you limited choices even in this day and age...Wal-Mart superstore and our friendly Bi-Lo store.

My husband and I will go grocery shopping together. We have been doing it that way for as long as we have been married. During the first twenty some years it worked out that way because he was a fireman and worked twenty- four hour shifts. He would take us all to the grocery store and push the children around in the buggy(showing off the litttle ones), or just keep them occupied (pridefully accepting all compliments given him by all the ladies in the store who thought this was such a sweet thing). This gave him time with the children and he also felt like he was helping me since he was gone so much. Remember we are a family of traditions and once we start a habit we find it hard to change so we are still grocery shopping together and today will be the day but not without some trials and tribulations!!!!

Trials and tribulations going grocery shopping you say.....Yes, believe it or not! The problem is that my husband and I see grocery shopping totally different. He thinks we go out of necessity, for me it is somewhat a social event. Haven't you gone to Wal-Mart in the middle of the day and observed little groups of women standing together and talking about...the trip out boating over the weekend, the dinner party they went to, Mom's surgery and how she is recovering...?! And there is another thing I noticed; if it is only out of necessity for us women then why do most moms make it there several times a week? We go to the OBGYN out of necessity and I don't know about you but there is no way you could get me there several times a week.When we go shopping Russell wants to go in, get what we need (he has been trying for years to get me to take lists), and get out. On the other hand, the minute I hit the doors and the little elderly lady asks me how I am today, the socializing starts.

Here is the picture...I stop to exchange pleasantries and off goes my husband, buggy in tow, and ready to take care of business so we can get "the heck out of there". After politely discussing the weather, lack of buggies at the door, and the price of gas going up, I then, am on the search for my husband. You see he has gotten away with my buggy and my purse. Upon finding each other, which usually takes several circles around the store(and these stores aren't small), and at least fifteen minutes, we try to agree not to get separated again. He then asks me to get my shopping list out, (which I have not written and therefore cannot produce), and we discuss how much more efficient the shopping would be if I had a list. I have to agree with him because he has a point, but I am secretly thinking how, again, I got away without bringing a list and now we happily have to travel up every aisle. As we journey up each and every isle (it is the same questions and answers on all isles), we discuss the need for those particular name brands versus the store brands..I will not use any mayo other than Kraft...how many of each item we need....do we really need three boxes of cereal...which items yield more per cent....family size tea bags versus regular size bags. During our discussions we always seem to bump into someone we know. If it is someone my husband knows, they get a "Hey, buddy. How's it going, man?". Then they are off on their own journeys with their own wives. But, if it is someone I know, protocol dictates we stop, give each other a hug, inquire about each other's children and husband, then proceed to discuss some world problem....did you hear that they brought drug dogs into the local school to do a spot check? How frightening that must of been for the children! Aren't we so glad we are homeschooling!?...Of course, discussing world problems cannot be done as quickly as a "Hey man", so, seeing the handwriting on the wall my husband wanders off to pick up some of the items he knows we need. After, a thorough discussion and arriving at a solution to problem...HOMESCHOOL, HOMESCHOOL, HOMESCHOOL...we decide to return back to the task at hand...what was that..oh, yes grocery shopping. My husband has brought several items back to the buggy only to be informed that he has selected a brand that we don't use or that we usually purchase the next larger size. I also ask his forgiveness for holding us up and at that moment I am really sorry but boy, does socialization turn ones head! I do my best to stay on task until the next friend comes along and then I fall back into that all too well known trap...socializing. We finally make it through the store, with a full buggy, and ready (my husband is realllly ready) to check out. There again is a chance to grow....I like my groceries put on the conveyer belt by catagories. You know, all the household items together, all the frozen items together, all the food items at the beginning and the household and personal items at the back. Russell sees only a need to get the buggy unloaded.I have noticed that every time I start organizing what he has unloaded from the buggy, he whispers for me to go and keep an eye on the scanning of the items to see if they are coming up correctly. It took me awhile to figure this out... hey, my chickens may be alittle scattered about, but I didn't fall off the hay truck yesterday. Watching the scanning keeps me from organizing during the buggy unloading process. The cashier announces the total amount...dollar and cents...and Russell always jokes with her saying, "We have the dollars but my wife says I have no cents (sense)." That always brings, at the least, a smile to the face of the cashier. It is also my husbands way of socialization. No matter how it goes, as we push a loaded buggy out the door, I resist the temptation to stop one last time to reinforce to the little lady at the door what a good job she is doing. Instead, we both give a friendly wave, one of us calls out to have a "good day", and we are on our way remarking on what a good shopping trip that was.

Our relationship with God is alot like our shopping trip. In my shopping trips and at times, in our relationship with our Father, we want to do it OUR way. We sometimes fight openly to handle things our way or at other times, like my non-list writing, our rebellion is a little more subtle. God's word instructs us time and time again to do it His way..to be obedient to Him. "Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you". Deuteronomy 6:3. Not only does he instruct us to be obedient but he also promises great blessing when we do. Remember how Russell and I get separated once we get to the store? Sometimes during our walk with the Lord, out of being weak, sinful, humans, we get separated from God. Since we are christians, I am not talking about a permanent separation. I am referring to those times when deep in our hearts we are calling to him but feel like we are not connected. "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour". We are commanded to rejoice no matter how we feel because this is God's reminder that no trouble on earth can dethrone the King of kings or separate us from Him and His love, that a great victory has been won, and that we are on the winning team. Another lesson God has shown me is to keep on trying...we all ask for forgiveness and then seem to make the same mistake again. We are, in fact, human and our Father is well aware of this. He doesn't need perfection, He wants a willing heart, a heart that keeps trying. "Not that I have already obtained this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me....Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus". Philippians 3:12-14. And lastly, there is a lesson of thankfulness. Despite all the differences between my husband and I we love each other deeply, know that all problems can be resolved, and at the end of the day focus on the best in each other. Doesn't this sound like our God and King?! He loves us deeply, and there is no problem we can't bring to Him. There is no problem that doesn't have an answer, and no matter how we act or what we do or do not do, at the end of the day, the fact remains the same...He sees the best in us and loves us. "I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurable more than all we ask or imagine...be glory". Ephesians 3:17-21. Thank you, Lord.

So, for at least in this one matter, the here will not be very different from the after. We will get our grocery shopping done today. I will, once again, leave the house with new resolve to try to be not so difficult. For the sake of my husband who loves me very much I will take a list. For my Father who loves me wider, and longer and deeper than is imaginable...to Him I give all honor and glory and praise forever and ever.